Car coupler



c. H. roMLlNsoN Dec. 14 1926.

CAR COUPLER FiledJn. 24. 1920 s sheets-sheet 1 Dec. 14 1926.,.

c. H. y'roMLlNsoN CAR COUPLER Filed Jan. 24, A 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 2Dec. 14 ,'19Z6.

' c. H. ToMLlNsoN CAR COUPLER Filed Jan. 24. 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 3gramma/bom Patented lecrpdlff;` 1926.

UNirED.' STATES PATENT OFFICE. -I

CHARLES.v II. TOMLINSON, 0F MANSFIELD, OHIO', ASSIGNOR T0 THE TOMLINSONCOUPLER COMPANY, 0F MANSFIELD, OHIO, AEORPOBATION 0F OHIO.`

can Corinna'.

Application. lediJanuaryy 24 1920; Serial No. 353.720.

vision of. a device of the classinamed w ich vns v other.

shall beef improved construction andoperation. Thel invention isexemplified. in .the` combination and` arrangement of. parts shown inthe accompanying drawings and described in the following specification,and

-it is moreparticularlypointedV outl inV theap ended dlaims.

n the drawingk Fig. 1. ifs a top plan view of two cars in a trainconnected by a coupler embodyingfoney form of 'the present invention.

Fig. 2 isa side elevation with parte in section of the mechanism show'n1n Fig. -3 is a vertical sectional view of a car.

coupler such as that shown in Figs; 1 andA 2 but on a scale larger thanthat ofvthe pr`evious figures;

Fig. 4 shows one part of the coupler in a different position from thatof Fig.` 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section substantially on line 5-5 oF'ig.y 3;-

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation showing a slight modification coupler;i

Fig. 7 is a bottom plan view of the portion of the couplerat the rightin Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 isa vertical section of theportion of the coupler at the right inFig. 3 showing a modification of one of the parts;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view of a somewhat modified form ofcoupler;

Fig. l0 is a top plan View of the coupler shown in Fig. 9.

Although the car coupler embraced in the present invention is applicableto cars. of

various forms, it is especially vapplicable tocars or trucks which runupon the supporting surface without tracks and which are provided withcasters or movable wheels at.

one end to permit the cars. or trucks to be readily turned from onedirection to anfactories having' extended floor space to.

transfer material from one part` of the fac-` to permit the car to bereadily turned fromy one 'direction to another. The rear portion of. onepart of the.

' thel complementary coupler.

Such cars are extensively used in.

ofthe. cars as.v shown at the right in Figs. l

and 2is. jrovided with a stationary axle 23 having. w eels 24 rotatablycarried thereby. A. pair of brackets 26 are. secured to the frontportion of the car body 20 in spaced relation` to one another and'support a hor-l izontal pivot pin 27 u o n which is mounted a-couplingrod'28. T e coupling rod 28 is free toswing vertically upon the pivot27as. an axis but is heldagainst 'lateral movement relative to the carbody so that any movement of the rod 28, in a lateral directionwillswing the body of thecar in unison plungerx30 bears upon the lowersurface of the carbody and limits the downward move'- ment of thecoupler rod 28.

The forward end of the coupler rod 28 is l rovided with a head-piece 34which has its orward end ,tapered to facilitate entrance thereof into asocket member 35 comprising The member 35 is provided with a bell-shapedportion 36 to guide the head 34 into coupled relation therewith. Thesocket member 35 is propor- ,l

tionedy to fit accurately the head 34 at its maximum diameter and thehead tapers to form a neck 37 in-the rear of the portion. of maximumsize. A latch 38 is mounted on a pivot 39 supported by ears 40 extendingdownwardly from the socket member 35. The latch 38v is provided with abearing surface 41 arranged to grip the tapered. portion of the neck 37and hold the parts 28 and 35 in coupled relation. It will be seen thatany draw-barpull on the member 28 serves to produce a` tighter grip ofthe latch 38 u on the head 34. The latch 38 is provided with atail-piece 42 which carries arms 43 extending laterally therefrom. Rods44 are connected with the arms 43' and extend into cup-shaped members 45at the sides ofi the socketmember 35. Coil springs 46 cooperate with;the rods 44 to resiliently hold the latch 38 in locking position. Whentwo couplers are moved together the head 34 will be guidedby the bell 36into the socket member 35, and the spring 31 and pivot 27 will permit ofvertical displacement of the y B coupler rod 28 tobrinsthepartsintoproperv the head 34 enters' the -socket ;35 it will press the latch 38downf vertical?l alinenient.

" wardly to `permit the head to move pastthe'V .latch into coupledposition. The springs 46 will, then return the latch into holding reflation inthe rear' ofthe head 34.

` member 35 is pivotally suppainvof. ears 50 which extend is"rotatablyirfjrnountedn in a bearing 52 formed onaplate which'issecuredto the l rearoi. ythef-acar'body 20. The socket is Aheldfinp'lace by acap screw 55 and alockzwasher 55. An uncoupling pin or.

membei35,isjournaledon a' pivot pin 54 carried Ybyfears 50. The pivotmember 51 plunger 56 extends downwardly through a centralopening in thecaps screw 5 and .passes through lelongated transverse openings in thesocket member and through a. transverse opening in pivot pin 54. .Thelower end of the plunger 56 bears upon the tailpiec'eA 42, asillustrated in Fig. 3, so that Athe parts may be uncoupled b pressure ora blow upon the upper end o the lunger.

1 It will be observed that the uncoup ing pin Apasses throu'h the.center of motion of the socketmemlier 35 both with respect to thelateral pivotal motion of the socket member2 as well as the verticalmotion thereof. This permits the uncoupling of the parts irrespectiveof. the position of the sbck'et mem- 'ber and the uncoupling pin 56remains in thesame position for all angles to which the socket member ismoved. 'When the plunger 56 is forced downwardl into the position-shownin broken lines in ig. 3, the latch 38 and tail-piece 42 will be movedfrom full line to broken line position as shown in that figure and thecoupler parts will then readily move apart.

It will be apparent that the front or leading car mayA swing from oneside to the other as'the direction of the train of cars is changed, andthe socket member 35 will rotate about itsl pivot 51. As the car isdrawn to one side or the other the lateral lstrain upon the coupling rod28 will draw the front portion of the following car so -that it willsubstantially track the rear wheels of thev front car. When the cars aremoved into coupled relation their move ment toward one another islimited lb a shoulder 57 which engages a correspon ing recess at thebase of the bell-shaped member 36. 'hen t-he parts are uncoupled the,bar 28 may be moved upwardly about its pivot 27 into the position shownin' Fig. 4 and it may be retained in this position by a catch 59. Inthis position of the bar 28 an abutment block 60 on the lower face of lthe bar 28 is brought into position to engage the bell-shaped portion 36of the socket member 35 in the rear of an adjacent car,l so that when itis desired one car may .be given a push .from another Without cansingthe two cars to be coupled together.- The which. a cross-bar 61 maybeinserted to form a. hand-hold by which the car may be drawn, using thebar 28 as a tongue when 1t 1s uncoupled from other cars on a train. Thecoil springs 46 may Ibe replaced by helical springs shown at 62 in Fig.6 .or by-fa coupling bar 28 may, if desired, be provided with alaterally extending opening-through 'l counterweight shown at 63 inFig." 8, but

vthe Y, operation of these modified structures. 1s essentially'thesameasv that of the form shown inFigs. 3 and 5.

ln some cases it may be desirable to have both ends of the cars equippedwith similar couplers and an arrangement for this purpose is illustratedin Figs. 9 and 10. In

these figures a draw-bar 65 is pivotally coni? nected with the car 20 at66 and is supported upon an arcshaped rod 67 secured to the lower faceof vthe car body 20 by suitable fastening members 68. The rod 67 passesthrough an opening in a flange 69 on the A socket member 71 is AcarlUUet member 71 in a mannersimilar to the plunger 30 in the previouslydescribed form of the invention. A latch 76 is pivotally mounted at 77beneath the socket membcr 7l and operates in the same way as the latch38 previously described. An uncoupling plunger 78 has its lower endarranged to engage a tail-piece 79 on the latch 76 so that downwardpressure on the plunger will release t-he latch 76. Both the front andrear ends of the cars are equipped with the same form of couplingmechanism and a coupling pin 80 having duplicate heads 81 on oppositeends vis used for joining the couplers of two connected cars. It isapparent that lwhen either of the latches 76 is released the couplingpin 81 will remain attached to the socket member of the opposite car sothat it will be in position to re-engage the socket member from whichit. has been uncoupled or a similar socket member on another car. ltwill be apparent that a car equipped with a socket member like thatshown in Figs. 9 and 10 may be coupled with a car having a coupling rodlike that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and it will also lbe apparent that thesocket member shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be connected with the form ofcoupling shown in Figs. 9

nordsee used.

Other .combinations of the various forms of couplers will readilysuggest themselves to those skilled in th art.

I claim -1 V l. 'In combination, a car having front wheels laterallymovable thereon to permit lateral turning of said car, a couplin barcarriedby the front end of said car an projecting forwardly therefrom,means for holding said bar against lateral movement relative to said carwhile permitting vertical pivotal inovementof` said bar, means forlimiting .the downward pivotal movementA of said bar and a second carhaving a complementary coupler pivoted thereon adjacent said car andarranged to be detachedly connected with said bar.

2. A car coupler comprising a coupling member having means thereon forsecuring said member to a complementary member of a cooperating coupler,said iirst named member being movable into one position to perform itscoupling function and into a dit'- ferent position to provide anabutment for transmitting the pushing force between two cars withoutcoupling said cars to one another, said securing means being out ofposi-- tion for cooperation with said complementary member when in saidsecond mentioned position.

3. A car coupler comprising a-coupling bar having means thereon forsecuring said bar to a complementary member of a cooperating coupler,means for pivotally supporting said bar to permit said bar to be movedinto one position to cooperate with said complementary member forsecuring two cars to one another and into another position in which saidsecuring means is out ot' position for cooperation with itscomplementary member and said bar is inoperative as a coupling member,and means on said bar for transmitting a pushing force between said carswithout coupling said cars together.

4. A car coupler comprising a bracket member secured to a car and havinga horizontal pivot thereon, a coupling bar mounted on said pivot,a-spring pressed member carried by said coupling bar on the side of saidpivot adjacent said car, said member being arranged to engage theunderside osaid car to limit the downward pivotal movement of the outerend of said bar and an abutment. member on said bar arranged to be movedinto position'to engage the coupler ot' a different car when said bar isswung upwardlyjnto inoperative position. t

5. A car coupling mechanism comprising a coupling member movable intoone positionto automatically couple two cars when brought together, saidcoupling member being movable out of said position to permit saidcars tobutt against one another without being coupled together, an abutmentelement on said coupling member for providing abutment for said cars,and means for yieldingly holding said coupling member in position forcoupling engagement with a cooperating coupler.

6. Coupling mechanism comprising a -bar pivotally mounted on lthe frontvend of a car to swing verticallythereon, but held against lateralmovement relative thereto, j

To v

resilient means for limiting the downward movement ot said member, butpermitting free movement thereof upwarldly, a comple.

mentary coupling member pivotally mounted on a carto be connected withsaid lirst named car, said complementar member being-an ranged to swingvertica ly and laterally, resilient means for limiting the verticaldownward movement of said lcomplementary coupling member butpermittingfree movement thereof upwardly, a latch arranged toautomatically connect said coupling members when said cars are broughttogether in coupled relation to one another and means for releasing saidlatch to permit said cars to be separated from one another.

7 In combination, a coupling head for a vehicle, means for supportingsaid head for pivotal movement on said vehicle while said head remainsin coupled relation with another vehicle, and an uncoupling device forsaid member extending through the pivotal center of said movement. v

8`. A vcar coupler comprising a female coupling member pivoted to swingin two din rections, and an uncoupling device passing throughboth-pivotal centers of movement of said member.

9. A coupling device comprising a coupling member pivoted to swing bothvert1- cally and laterally, and an uncouplin pin arranged in the axis ofmovement o said member in one direction and passing through the pivotalcenter of movement of said member in the other direction.I

10. A coupling device comprisinga female coupling member pivoted toswing vertically and laterally, `,and an uncoupling device arranged inthe axis of lateral movement of said member and passing through the axisof vertical movement of said member.

l1. A coupling device comprisin a coupling member, a pivot -pin about wich said member is free to swing while said member remains in coupledrelation with a comple` mentary coupling member, and an uncoupling rodextending through a transverse openingin said pivot pin. f

12. Antuncoupling device comprising a coupling member, a pivoted headfor supporting said member to swing laterally, a

".pivotpin .forsecuring said member to said pivothead 'topermit saidmember to swing ivertiallvfand an` uncoupling pin arranged v inthe axis-of saidi'pivot head and passing 'through a transverse opening in saidpivot lI? 13.-;A. coupling device com rising a couplingimember, a. ookfor yhol ing said mem- 'ber in cou led relation with a eo'mpl'iemen`,tary mem er, meansffor supporting said coupling ,member lfor verticaland lateral `jpivotal movement, and an uneoupiing pin extending throughthe center of both move- .ments of said member and arranged toengagetsaidloekto uncouple said members.

14. A ear coupler comprising a female coupling member pivoted forvertical and lateral movement, a male member, means for -1ocking saidmembers in coupled relation to oneanother, and an uneouplmg pinextending through the axis of pivotal movement of said vfemale memberandv arran ed to en-V gage said lock touneouple -sai members from oneanother.

In testimony whereof Ishave signed my name to this specification on this20th day of January, A. D. 1920.

CHARLES H. TOMLINSON.

